From www.dvdanswers.com:

Title: Dune
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan
Released: 10th May 2005
SRP: $27.98

Further Details
Universal Home Video has today announced a new extended edition of Dune which stars the likes of Kyle MacLachlan, Jose Ferrer, Max von Sydow and Linda Hunt. The disc will be available to own from the 10th May, and should set you back around $27.98 in total. I'm afraid we dont have any details on extra material at the moment, but we can confirm that the disc will carry both the 2 hour 17 minute theatrical cut, along with the unrated 3 hour 10 minute extended cut. We'll bring you further details on this one, very shortly.

'bout time!

Is the extended cut in WS or is it in 4:3?

About time for an anamorphic transfer of this movie.

Now if we could only get an anamorphic transfer of 2010.

I assume that this is the extended-for-television version directed by "Alan Smithee" and written by "Judas Booth"? nothing beats the cinematic sensation you get when personal vision collides with studio politics!

Has it been officially confirmed that Lynch is okay with this? I seem to remember that they announced deleted scenes for 'Fire Walk With Me' until he balked at including them, and this is a case of something we all know he actively despises. (I don't mean I care if he approves of it or not, I just don't want to get excited for the release and then have him pull that off of it at the last minute.)

actually, Lynch spent a lot of time preparing the deleted scenes for the Fire Walk With Me DVD, but the French company that owns them wanted too much money from New Line to license them.

Since the extra "Dune" footage has been shown on television, I'm guessing that "Dune" and "FWWM" have different legal circumstances. Since Lynch had his name taken off of the extended cut, I don't think he was okay with it being shown, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Lynch seems to have financed a few of his projects with Machiavellian schemes (like the TP pilot and FWWM), so those films have some complex legal entanglements, whereas "Dune" was apparently financed by Universal, so they can do whatever they want to with it.

I wonder if the extended cut will be the same on shown on television, or if they'll update it. Meaning in widescreen, eyes colored in where needed, and with the scenes from the Lynch cut that didn't make it to the extended cut -- mostly edited for content for broadcast on TV.

From what I've heard, the situation is the exact opposite, in that Lynch hasn't prepared the deleted scenes for inclusion, and he's the party asking for too much money to do it. He apparently wants to do a whole post-production job on them with color-timing, scoring, and all that stuff.

The French company, from all accounts, wants to release the FWWM scenes, but is unable find any way to do it without losing money.

I doubt the extended cut will be in widescreen...I bet it will be the fullscreen version with the unfinished effects that has ben shown on tv for years...

I think we can pretty much assume that he is absolutely not OK with this... but that there's nothing he can do about it.

Well, the point is, if you had to choose between a Lynch-approved release, including various extras which wouldn't get on without his approval (that's about as much as he could do, withdraw his "support" of the release), or a release with nothing extra *but* the TV-cut... but I don't actually know the legal circumstances and whatnot. And I suppose Lynch probably won't want much to do with this release either way.

As I said in the other thread ... neither way will have 100% of the people supporting it, but 1.33 is, technically, the original aspect ratio of the television showing, isn't it? So some people will want it in OAR (which is, obviously, muddled, since it was shot for widescreen), the way it's always been, and others will want it letterboxed, the way it was "supposed" to be.

I really have no objection to the extended edition being 1.33...I doubt I will be watching it myself since it is a hack job excuse for an extended edition. What I would really love to see is the rumored 4 hour workprint that Lynch originally cut.

I am looking forward to this since I have seen the two newer movies but not the original. Should be good!

I hope that's wrong, but you're probably right.

I know that technically the OAR of the extended TV version is 1.33:1 but Lynch really shot the film with the intention of it being 2.35 or whatever (including the scenes that were deleted but used for the TV version), so IMO widescreen would be the best way to present this if possible.

Even though the extended edition is a hackjob...I would love to see it in widescreen. I just doubt Universal is going to take the time to give us a widescreen transfer. What about the illustrations used to open the movie as well? Were those meant to be 4x3 or 2.35:1?

Yeah, but this hacked-up version includes stuff that would not work in 2.35:1. There are drawings, unfinished test shots, shots that are flipped, etc.

They did a lot of trickery to extend the running time, and a lot of that would fall apart if you put it in the 2.35:1 ratio. They'd have to go back and re-do a lot of that stuff (or remove it altogether). Seems logical to me that they're just going to slap the 1.33:1 edition onto the disc, since that's what they've done in every other region.

The TV cut does not exist in widescreen format. It was created in the video realm after the film footage had been cropped at the telecine transfer. Also, as noted by bboisvert, all of the cartoon inserts littered throughout the movie were drawn at 4:3. The only way for this version of the movie to be widescreen would be if Universal completely re-edited it from scratch from the original film elements, and presented it in a variable ratio that jumps from 2.35:1 to 4:3 constantly. I doubt that would happen.

Is Lynch OK with this? Well, frankly he doesn't care one way or the other what happens with the movie. He has completely severed all ties to it. His stance is that it is Universal's movie, not his. Universal can do what they want with it, but he wants nothing more to do with the project.

And there is no "4 hour workprint that Lynch originally cut". That's a straight-up myth. It never existed. What was screened for the crew was a Rough Assembly, which is just every piece of footage shot (multiple takes, flubs, different angles of the same action, camera slate markings, everything) strung back to back in approximate order. It is not a "cut". It rans 4 to 5 hours because it had not been edited at all. The only cut of the film that Lynch prepared was the 2 hour 17 min. theatrical cut.

Incidentally, it's a good year to be a Dune fan. In addition to this new SE and the HD-DVD in september, I actually finally saw the movie in 35mm on Monday. The Brattle theater in Cambridge, MA is doing a Lynch retrospective and had a fairly decent print of Dune (though the theater's sound system is terrible).

Yeah, the Brattle drives me nuts. Great prints, great films, lots of rare/obscure stuff... but extremely disappointing theater.

OK, got it. I guess that it's theoretically possible for Universal to go back and completely re-edit it (if all the film elements, especially the extra footage, still exist, that is) but logically, this isn't something that Universal is very likely to do. It would be nice if they could at least finish the visual effects for the added scenes though.

That's like totally out of left field, but I agree. An underrated classic.

Totally what I thought, so I do not expect him to invest any energy in derailing this release. I'm way interested to see what else he shot of the Dune story, as even his "director's cut" has gapping holes in narrative. I just want to see. I still love this flick and am very pleased with this news.

i just hope this is the beginning of more special editions of Lynch movies to come...especially Mulholland Dr.